Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)
Counts 14 of 20 ingredients — the other 6 aren't in our nutrition table and contribute nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume — 14 portions →
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 100g cooked | 165 |
| Potato | 1 medium (173g) baked | 161 |
| Kidney Bean | 1/2 cup canned (128g) drained | 112 |
| Pea | 1/2 cup (72g) | 62 |
| Orange | 1 medium (131g) | 62 |
| Broccoli | 1 cup chopped (156g) | 55 |
| Onion | 1 medium (110g) | 44 |
| Cucumber | 1/2 cup sliced (52g) | 16 |
| Spinach | 1 cup raw (30g) | 7 |
| Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Celery | 1 stalk (40g) | 6 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Garlic | 1 clove (3g) | 4 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Stew | not in our table | 0 |
| Plant | not in our table | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
| Bean | not in our table | 0 |
| Saffron | not in our table | 0 |
| Meat | not in our table | 0 |
Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.
Ingredients
- 4-6 potatoes – any kind. If they’re russets or thick-skinned, then peel them. Otherwise dice ‘em around ½” to ¾” cubes
- 2-5 links of chourico or linguica. Chourico is spicier. Pick one or mix if you want. Slice, dice, or peel the casing and crumble to your taste.
- 1-2 medium onions. Or 1 large one. Any onion is fine, but I use Spanish for this. I dice ‘em rough-cut or about ½” cut. They’re gonna slow cook anyway, and this way they’ll be visible in the stew.
- 1-2 bunches of kale or Portuguese cabbage. Well anything ‘green’ will work (‘Caldo Verde’ means green broth in Portuguese), but the flavor changes with different greens. I tend to use Kale as it’s cheap, it’s easy to find, and it’s soo good. Heck, you could use spinach if you want (that actually sou
- ~2-3 cups of chicken broth. I use bullion cubes right now (until I use ‘em up), so I make the broth a bit weak by about ¼ with water. That excess moisture steams off anyway, and then the stew isn’t overpowered by chicken flavor. Also, the more liquid you use, the thinner the end result (this can be
- ~1-2 Table spoons of minced garlic. Anyone sane uses those jars of pre-diced stuff anyway (mmmm, I love the smell of a freshly opened jar). You wanna cut it up yourself? Have fun . . .
- Other veggies – I put peppers and zucchini into the last one. Some folks put chick peas or fava beans or kidney beans in here. Celery can be added. Whatever you got in the crisper, but not too much of it. Let the top four ingredients control the stew.
- Salt and pepper to taste. I use roughly 2X the pepper they ask for in most recipes.
- Goya makes a Portuguese seasoning packet that says ‘Con Azzafron’ (which means ‘with saffron’). It’s an orange box with yellow and green stripes. I got it from the Portuguese/American store in West Warwick, RI. (This spice isn’t necessary, but it ADDS A LOT of taste for any Portuguese recipe. The se
Directions
Make/pour broth into crockpot. Sometimes it’s worth it to nuke the broth to steamy beforehand, or even boil it in a saucepan.
Turn on crockpot to ‘low’ and cover. Each time you wanna add, remove cover and replace it after adding, to keep the temperature up.
Peel/dice potatoes and add (any size/shape will do in the crockpot)
Peel/dice onions and add
Peel/dice/whatever other veggies and add
Skin/dice/slice chourico/linguica and add
Any beans can go in now (I’m thinking canned beans by the way)
Add some salt ‘n pepper now to estimated taste
By now, take a break, and give it an hour or so, to wait for the pot to heat things up.
Where was I? Oh yeah, now is the time to add the Verde (green) to the Caldo (soup). Kale has a thick and tough vein at its center. I like to peel the leaf off the vein and rough chop it (tossing the vein). If you are using something which has a softer vein (like Portuguese cabbage), then feel free to include it into the chop.
Anyway, you tend to have an almost full crockpot by this point, and a BUNCH of bushy green leaves. That’s okay. Remember the wilt comment above? This is where that comes in. Add whatever will fit under the lid without releasing too much steam, and wait ~15-30 minutes.
Stir in the wilted ‘kale’ and then add more as above.
Repeat as necessary.
After around 3-4hours, roughly stir and kinda mash the potatoes a bit (after this, be sure to stir along the edges to pull the mashed parts away from the walls of the pot). This is a good time to taste the broth and also test the liquidity of the soup/stew.
Add anything you think will help. If the Caldo Verde is too thin, then remove lid (drain the lid condensation into the sink) and stir to free steam roughly once per 30 minutes for the next couple hours). The evaporation will thicken the soup rather well this way, and its fun to see it coalescing into a fine meal.